updated 04:20 pm EST, Mon March 8, 2010

MSI Wind U160 takes netbook upscale

MSI today officially brought its chief designer netbook, the Wind U160, to US shores through Buy.com and Newegg. The system is the same as its international counterpart and revolves around a gold-and-bronze look with chiclet keys. It runs on Intel's newer Pine Trail platform and, with a 1.66GHz Atom, potentially breaks records with a maximum 14-hour battery life.

The system otherwise fits typical netbook specifications with 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and Windows 7 Starter. A 1.3-megapixel webcam and 802.11n Wi-Fi represent its chief extras. MSI officially prices the U160 at $380.